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Saturday, August 2, 2014

ICYMI - Student Could Get 8 Years for Paper Sharing

A Colombian grad student alleges he was only trying to help other researchers (and endangered amphibians) for sharing a paper online. Diego Gomez, 26, posted a paper on a file sharing site...and now he may receive an eight year prison sentence for copyright infringement.

Gomez is being prosecuted under Colombia's tough copyright laws despite the facts that the author was credited and that the work appeared online in another location.

Gomez stated, "Today what the vast majority of the country's researchers and conservationists are doing, despite being committed to spreading knowledge, is turning us into criminals."

Maria Sutton with the Electronic Frontier Foundation believes that this case shows "the real-life harm of overreaching restrictions due to excessive laws that protect the 'economic rights' of authors."

Has this law gone too far or do you believe that the original author could be economically harmed by the papers placement on a file sharing site?

Join us Monday morning at 10 AM EST as we discuss the controversial subject of copyright infringement.